Back in the saddle
What was it like returning to Farscape?

It was as if we'd never stopped, really. It took an hour around those lovely friendly faces to feel like we'd never left.

Was it difficult working on a show with so much CGI?

Look, it's an actor's job to imagine things, no matter what.

The timeline from the idea being born to ending up on the Sci Fi Channel was pretty fast, and because of the CGI component we did have to deliver things sooner rather than later. That was the major consideration with CGI, they need time.

We could not have made the show without Ben, that's for starters, and had he and I not got on, I don't know if anyone would have really wanted to turn up for work every day.

Tricky positions

You had quite a few undignified scenes -what were they like to film?

There were real opportunities for humour there.

I don't think it would be Farscape if there weren't some crass and undignified moments. The characters are always losing gloriously and going out with a bang, and doing their damndest to make themselves look like complete idiots in the process.

Good reactions
What do you think of the reaction to the miniseries so far?

We were sent a large dossier of reviews, and they were incredibly positive, and it's just fantastic that the mini-series was made.

There's so much vying for people's attention nowadays, with multimedia, videogames, movies and what have you, that a loyal audience is better than a non-existent one. Farscape has a fantastic bunch of fans, they're an intelligent demographic, and broader than people have experienced from science fiction before.

The burning question at the time was, would people be able to join into the show now, having heard all the buzz about Farscape. Will they be able to understand it? I think it's intrigued people, it's not for everyone. The things that some of the characters are subjected to, some of the content, might be a bit racy, but that's why those who love it love it so dearly, because we were always trying to take risks.

I heard there were a lot of new faces at the latest convention at Burbank, so the campaign that the fans had done had obviously been effective, they'd watched the miniseries then decided to go back and watch everything from the beginning.

I always knew that we wouldn't be able to please everyone, but I hoped that the fans would know that we were doing it for them.

Winding up?
There's a lot of loose ends tied up in the mini-series...

Yeah. I'd say that we'd tie up that amount of loose ends normally in the course of a season, but it all had to be contracted. But there was no point really in doing the mini-series unless we could tick a lot of boxes. And there's a lot of death and destruction... We had always been told that the universe of Farscape we were trying to create right from the very beginning was one where if someone was hit it hurt. They weren't trying to make us superheroes. John Crichton was supposed to be an everyday guy who was placed in an extraordinary situation. And though Aeryn was supposedly a genetically-bred supersoldier, what hurt her mostly were things that affected her heart, and boy did they hit her.

What made the show good was precisely what made it difficult for people to tune in fresh, because there was a lot of layering, a lot of back-story. You look at a show that's so beautifully plotted and thought-out like Stargate, not as much, character-wise, ends up on screen. They plot it out incredibly well in their minds, they have a lot of texture for their characters, but it's not necessarily revealed as much on screen. It makes it easier for people to tune in on an episodic basis.

Working for the enemy
What was it like playing Vala on Stargate?

I found it interesting. I only did my scenes with Michael Shanks, I didn't really meet any of the other actors, but I found that he was, professionally, very similar to Ben.

They were very open-minded on the set about the banter between me and Michael and what we could improvise if required, but it was a very well-written episode.

And there's a possibility you might reprise the character?

It was funny because the crew said to me at the time, "Your character doesn't die in this episode, so you might come back," and they're very consistent in Stargate, they do bring a lot of guest characters back.

So there's definitely the scope for Vala, and I'll be interested to see what they come up with. And I'll be very interested to see Ben and Micheal Shanks working together.

A beautiful partnership
If both you and Ben end up working on Stargate, there'll be a campaign to have you acting opposite each other within moments.

Oh god! That's a really frightening prospect.

Won't 50 per cent of the shippers want the dynamic to be exactly what they know and love from Farscape? I don't know, maybe 100% will be hoping it's the same dymanic, and I don't know how I feel about that. What an interesting propect!

I would work with Ben in an absolute heartbeat. What I would like to do is test my range and his range, which I know goes way beyond the scope of what we were doing. Farscape gave us a lot of scope and a lot of opportunity to try many different things -the blind episode, the crazy episode. But I'd love to test our respective ranges.

For me, as an actor, I really want to get into a realm where I'm taking huge risks, and I know that I can do that with no one more so than with Ben, so if the opportunity arose for me to go back, work on Stargate, and work closely with Ben, I'd really want to mix it up a bit and have a play.

Going one beyond
Do you think science fiction is challenging for actors?

I still think sci fi actors are underestimated by audiences who may not know what's requried of them. They work even faster on Stargate than we did on Farscape, but Stargate often get their scripts on time [giggles]. There's a reason why Patrick Stewart was hired to do the job that he did, even though he came from a Shakespearian background. You have to understand how to play the stakes for heightened drama, and you learn that or die in theatre. While it's a little bit safer on television or on a film set to call cut and go again, you don't have the time, so a disciplined actor is really going to save the producer time and money if they can be a one-take wonder.

So it takes someone with high intelligence and dedication and a lot of discipline.

End of the line?
Will the mini-series be the last Farscape we see?

Well, I've been wrong every single year. When they said, "Oh we're definitely coming back", I'd say, "I wouldn't have thought so, this show's too difficult, it wears people out, it's so expensive to make, I don't think we'll find anyone to pick up the tab each year." Every year we did.

Then finally, the last season, when everyone's going, "Ooh, I don't think it's going to happen," I'm going, "Oh, of course it will. Every year we say it won't and it does, of course it will, this is a show that never ends." And I was wrong. Though in a way I suppose I was right when the mini-series came back, but I didn't think that Brian would be able to get everyone back, and I didn't think he'd get the money to rebuild, it just didn't seem possible.

So, my instinct is now, knowing Brian Henson and knowing Farscape, and also knowing that it's going to some form of syndication, I know that he will do his very very best to keep the franchise and name of Farscape going, and I know that if Ben's doing it, I'm doing it.

Would you do an animation?

Yeah, absolutely. What fun. The slightly objective response I had when I heard we weren't going again for season five is that I wouldn't have the pleasure of watching Aeryn and Crichton on screen together. I really loved their story, I loved watching them on screen together, and I hope that isn't a narcissistic statement because I really genuinely believe I am detatching myself from it.

It was always a joy to watch what they were doing in the writing room with Aeryn and John, and it was always fun to watch it on screen. It was always so dramatic and they were funny. The characters -I think they will endure and I think they will last, and knowing Brian, if he has anything to do with it, I think we haven't heard the last of Farscape. We've rounded off the circle, we've finished off a chapter.

Mother of a tale
If it were to come back, is there any story you'd like told?

Ben and I have talked about the scope for Crichton and Aeryn getting domesticated, and the fact that she's always going to do it differently. We'd really turn it on its head.

What I liked about Aeryn was that her attitude was always very black and white. Aeryn would be in a very interesting territory now, because she's mellowed. But I love the fact that in the miniseries, with a line like "shooting makes me feel better", she's not going away in a hurry.

She responded to her child immediately -I love the fact that she's always stroking the baby's head in the background, and there's never a moment where she's not having serious physical contact with the child. I read an article recently where Meryl Streep was saying, you are the mother that you're going to be before you have the child, and I like the fact that Aeryn probably vowed, since she didn't have contact with her parents, that she's going to try and be the opposite and be the greatest mum that she could be.

Because the scope of the miniseries was massive, I was worried that now Aeryn had served her purpose, all she'd have to do was pop out a baby and the fans would be happy and Crichton would have his child. Next generation, here we come.

So it was very important to try and work out what Aeryn's attitude was, and not ground her too much in a domestic, earth-type scenario. Giving birth -let's be classically Aeryn about this, let's find ways to make sure her spirit isn't dwindling.

David Kemper created such a fascinating character that a lot of the new writers would say "I want to do an episode for Aeryn."

Leave the pulse pistol!
Did you get to take any props as a memento?

I kept the leather jacket that I wore in the Earth episode in the wedding fantasy. And I did take a little piece of a wall of Moya that was being thrown into the dumpster, and a little piece of Scorpius' leather -there were bits and pieces flying around the wardrobe room and I just took a few mementoes, because they were cool.

No pulse pistols then?

I didn't get one, no. Brian took everything from season four -they packed it up and put it in storage, because they really wanted to get a film or a miniseries going, and I think it's a testament to his voracity to getting the show back in some form that he's not willing to part with the props.

Crew compliments
Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Just that the crew are quiet achievers, and I know it's not really part of their job description to do interviews, but Farscape's won a lot of technical awards over the years and everyone worked incredibly hard on it.

The actors always get asked, because of the make up, "Wow, were your hours really long?" Well, the makeup artists had to be there just slightly ahead of the actors. There were people there always earlier than us and generally later than us who had incredible discipline and creative ability.

I was in awe of the makeup department. Every year, the Creatureshop, the wardrobe department, always managed to meet their deadlines, always managed to improvise and to compromise, and the relationship that we had with our makeup team was vital for our survival and mental stability on set. So I would like to acknowledge all the work that the skilled technicians did on our show for so many years in difficult conditions.

They're not the ones that get the applause when we go to conventions, so I would like to acknowledge them and thank them, and if I don't see them again on Farscape, I really hope I see them on something else, and it was an absolute priviledge.

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